49ers' Kaepernick, Davis find their mesh point

SANTA CLARA – The getting-to-know-you process for Colin Kaepernick and Vernon Davis began well before Kaepernick became the San Francisco 49ers’ starting quarterback.

While the team was staying in Youngstown, Ohio, for a week last September, Kaepernick, still an obscure backup, approached Davis and asked if he could join the veteran tight end for dinner.

“And he just started talking to me,” Davis said. “He just opened up. I was like, this is a great guy, I can get along with this kid.”

Kaepernick was anxious because he wasn’t playing much. Davis advised the young quarterback to keep believing in himself, that his time would come.

Little did either player know that two months later Kaepernick would become the 49ers’ starter and one of the NFL’s breakout stars. Given Davis’ complementary skill set, and the concerted effort to fortify their relationship, the quarterback and tight end should have flourished as a pass-catch combo.

Except they didn’t. Despite Kaepernick’s rocket arm and the jets in Davis’ legs, the two rarely felt that spark the rest of the season. It wasn’t until the 49ers’ final two contests – the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl XLVII – that Kaepernick and Davis finally clicked.

For the 49ers to achieve their championship potential this season, the pair must build on that momentum. Heading into the penultimate set of exhibition games, Kaepernick and Davis appear to have taken their on-field relationship to the next level.

“Based on … all the body of work at practice,” 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said last week, “it sure looks like there’s a great rapport there.”

The when-Colin-met-Vernon story wouldn’t have much of a plot if they hit it off right away and became a modern-day version of Montana-to-Rice. What follows is an examination of their growth, starting with the launch of the Kaepernick era.

‘HE’S COME A LONG WAY’

The 49ers conduct their training camp interviews outdoors, so there’s a continual clamor of drills and jackhammers from the construction crew erecting Levi’s Stadium across the parking lot – and a pervasive sense of building something. In the case of Kaepernick and Davis, it’s the chemistry and timing that eluded them for most of last season.

In Kaepernick’s first start after the franchise-altering concussion suffered by incumbent Alex Smith, Davis caught eight passes for 83 yards and a touchdown in a 32-7 victory over Chicago. Niners fans and fantasy owners alike rejoiced.

Then, over the next seven games (including the divisional playoffs), Davis caught seven passes. Only once did Kaepernick target him more than three times in a game.

Considering that Davis is among the league’s most talented pass catchers, that he’s in the prime of a productive career and that young quarterbacks often lean on tight ends, their incompatibility made little sense. The most popular explanation, one Harbaugh offered up late last year, was that defenses wouldn’t let Davis beat them. Another was that the offense was working with Davis contributing in other ways, as a blocker or decoy, so why force it? Finally, the numbers suggested that Kaepernick had an unusually strong connection with wide receiver Michael Crabtree, whose targets and receptions spiked after the QB change. There are only so many balls to go around in a run-heavy offense.

It wasn’t as if Kaepernick and Davis weren’t trying. When Kaepernick first took over the starting job, the two would be out on the practice field “and he would just keep overthrowing me,” Davis said. “I would be running and running as fast as I possibly could, and Colin just kept overthrowing me.”

In our haste to judge and anoint and discover the next big thing, we sometimes forget that it takes countless repetitions to execute a single football play properly. It takes time to perfect timing.

Kaepernick began looking for Davis in the divisional round (five targets) and began finding him the following week. Davis had five catches for 106 yards and a touchdown in the NFC title game, eight catches for 104 yards in the Super Bowl.

The quarterback and his tight end were bonding. They kept working at it in spring, when an injury elevated the importance of their relationship. Crabtree, easily the 49ers’ leading receiver, suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon in mid-May. Suddenly, Kaepernick and Davis being on the same page of the playbook wasn’t a luxury but a necessity.

How has their chemistry changed since those early days of endless overthrows?

“It’s like night and day,” Davis said. “He’s putting the balls right there. Man, he’s come a long way.”

FREAK SHOW

To ensure that Kaepernick and Davis remain in sync, the 49ers will move their swift, agile tight end all over the formation. Reports earlier this month intimated that Davis was playing wide receiver, but that’s only partially true. He said he’s been lining up at the Z (flanker), X (split end) and F (“move” tight end) positions, with a specific goal in mind: to keep defenses guessing. If opponents don’t know where Davis will line up on any given play, the harder it’ll be to double-team him.

The 49ers wouldn’t do this with just anybody. Davis, in his eighth year out of Maryland, is a freakishly good athlete. At 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, he ripped off a ridiculous 4.38-second 40-yard dash at the 2006 scouting combine. More than one current teammate remarked that Davis runs like a wide receiver and blocks like a tight end.

“He’s probably the most difficult tight end to cover in the league,” fullback Bruce Miller said. “The guy’s an unbelievable football player.”

“Vernon is different,” Kaepernick said. “He’s a matchup nightmare. He’s a physical freak. You can do just about anything with him.”

No tight end in the NFL is faster than Davis. No quarterback possesses a stronger arm than Kaepernick. It was only a matter of time before they meshed.